He’s got on a suit, a vest, a tie and nicely framed glasses. Some things in the universe just make sense. Paul Feig looks exactly like the type of guy you would hope create a show as great as “Freaks and Geeks.” It all fits, cool geek. Since “Freaks and Geeks” was canceled, the author and director has kept busy, and that’s the way he wants it. While we sat down together at the Peninsula Hotel, he talked about his drive to constantly be working. He made an independent film, “I am David,” and directed numerous episodes of “Arrested Development” and “The Office.” Now, his first studio film, “Unaccompanied Minors,” just opened. The film is about a group of kids who get stuck at a Chicago airport over the holidays.
Feig talks about “Freaks and Geeks,” “The Office,” and being alone on the streets of Chicago … at the age of 12.
Bayer: Why direct “Unaccompanied Minors”? Feig: My career has always tried to be about finding genres that haven’t been done the way I’ve wanted them done, or I just want to put my spin on that genre. High school shows is why I did “Freaks and Geeks,” because I never liked how high school was portrayed. A movie like this, I like family comedies and I like big physical comedies … I had wanted to dip my top into the studio world just ’cause the last movie I made was an independent film that took so much time and energy with no payoff whatsoever … No artist, unless you make paintings in SoHo and then burn them, there’s no artist that doesn’t want their product seen by the largest number of people possible. [“Unaccompanied Minors”] had a lot of potential for big physical comedy while still being grounded in the characters. It was a good opportunity to play around with the genre and see if kids would respond to the stuff that I responded to.
Bayer: Was there any character that you identified with more than others? Feig: Yeah, the Spencer character. I always try and filter myself through one of them. When I first got the script he was more just kind of a cool kid. I like the awkward.
Bayer: Any point in your life as a child you can recall being on your own? Feig: I was an only child. My mom was a great mom and she was pretty cool as far as not smothering me. I was a latch-key kid before they had a term for it. It was actually in Chicago when I was 12, not a negative experience at all. We used to come to Chicago twice a year because my dad owned an Army-Navy Surplus store, and always had a buyers’ convention here. We were staying downtown, I had a suit, I used to wear a suit … still do. And I just wanted to go out one night and my mom said, “Go out.” So I did. I was 8 or 9, when I tell this story it sounds really bad, but at the time it was great. I remember walking around town, three-piece suit and a tie, I thought I was so cool. There was this guy all pimped out, walking with this woman and he starts laughing when he sees me, and I’m just like, “Hey, how’s it going?” I went to this club, to me I thought it was a jazz club, but it was probably just a hotel bar, and I sat there being the coolest 12-year-old in the world.
Bayer: Did anyone in the film not have to audition? Feig: All the supporting parts, I just called the people (in other words, the kids audition, the adults didn’t). Wilmer Valderrama really wanted this role, he was really sweet. At first I was like, “You? Play this awkward guy? You’re like the coolest guy in the world, in the tabloids and all this stuff.” But I sat down with him and he’s just a very sweet and normal guy. What I like to do is get people and then rewrite the part for them. Lewis Black, I was like just like, “Lewis, will you please do this?”
Bayer: It’s a fictitious airport set in Chicago. Is O’Hare not good enough for you? Feig: The problem is O’Hare is too good. There was no way we could shoot there because after 9/11 there is no way they let you do that. And re-creating, we could never make it look as good as we needed. Everyone would have been like, “That’s not O’Hare.” And also as big and as cool looking as O’Hare is, it’s almost kind of friendly looking in a weird way, and we wanted to create an airport that was very institutional, very tall and big, so kids could get swallowed up by it.
Bayer: With the sledding scene, does it pain you to have to use special effects? Feig: This makes me laugh. There are a lot of shots in there that look like special effects that aren’t special effects. The way my PD (production design) did such a great job lighting, it looks like some are special effects that aren’t. We were out there, coming down the mountain. The only special effects are the close-ups. We did blue screen on that. It pains me because I want it to be all real, all the time. But it became so time consuming, with the rig and the canoe connected with a snowmobile. My thing was it just had to be going fast. Lewis [Black] was rigged on the same thing. We had five nights on the side of this hill.
Bayer: Would you do TV again? Feig: I am supposed to direct more of “The Office.” It’s up in the air, because I’m doing another movie for Warner Brothers and want to try and go in the spring, so I might not.
Bayer: What is it like directing an episode of “The Office”? Feig: It’s the greatest job, it’s the easiest job in showbiz. The cast is so good and the style of the show is so fluid. The documentary style makes it so easy. It allows me to be completely about performance. And we can improv and just try stuff. It’s just the nicest, most talented cast I’ve ever worked with. And Greg Daniels, the executive producer, is cool enough to not be a slave to the script. They write incredible scripts, but if we improv or invent something that works, he’ll accommodate the scene.
Bayer: Lifestyle-wise, what is better? Running a TV show? Directing a TV show? Or directing movies? Feig: For pure lifestyle, directing TV is probably the most pleasurable. Because at the end of the day you aren’t writing, so you aren’t in the trenches. You’re just showing up, giving the best, but it’s not insane. It gives you the most time to have dinner and a drink with your wife. Running a TV show is insanity, because you are writing three or four episodes at once, running the room, you’ve got two or three in post-production, and if you want to do it the right way, you’re hands-on for all of that. It’s just madness. Movies are a nice halfway point between those two. Movies, you’re the guy in charge. With TV, you answer to the producers. Running a show is too much.
Bayer: In a given week, how often does someone want you to talk about “Freaks and Geeks”? Feig: Gosh, it happens pretty often. It’s very sweet. This is the greatest thing about DVDs, it didn’t used to be like this. Unless it was a hit TV show it would disappear. It’s the best way to watch TV, you can watch a whole season at once.
Bayer: Any part of you that’s glad “Freaks and Geeks” only lasted a season? Feig: Yeah, I hate to say it, but we were working so hard on it, it was so overwhelming. You’re completely sad but at the same time you’re like, “Thank God.” Literally, at the same time, my mom died right at the end. It was just this complete haze of everything. At the end it was just relief because I could rest. It was weird relief after a couple of weeks and then sadness hits you. When you have a show, everything cues off it. So you see something happen and you think of the characters and things that could happen. Suddenly when a show dies it was equivalent to my mom dying in a weird way because these people just disappeared. I felt really guilty that I was relieved we got canceled.
Bayer: You were a tour guide at Universal Studios? What tour? Feig: It was the whole thing. This was back in ’81 before they had switched it. They had “Jaws.” I fell in the “Jaws” lake once retrieving a woman’s cloth. You would just get this group and you’d be with them for four hours. One of the hottest summers on record. One of these old trams, with this big motor and it was so hot and you’re encased in polyester. It was cool though, I felt like I was in showbiz. I was 17 I think.
Bayer: I’m not reading a book right now, what do I read? “Kick Me” or “Superstud”? Sell me. Feig: I would read “Kick Me” first because if you read “Superstud,” you’ll never read “Kick Me.” “Kick Me” eases you in to “Superstud.” It’s warts and all when you write that kind of a book. And there are a lot of warts.
Bayer: Are you aware there is an AOL Members home page that someone is pretending to be you on it? Feig: No, that is mine. If you go to the bottom, you’ll notice it hasn’t been updated since ’99. Someone told me I’m the original blogger. I kept that thing up.
Bayer: Let’s end with something chipper … Last time you cried? Feig: Well, I can’t remember. I’m a heartless bastard. I don’t know, I don’t cry that much. I honestly don’t know … Last time I choked up was when they premiered this movie, because it was at the Mann’s Chinese theater and right when it started up and it was a packed house, and I’ve always been to that theater. I definitely choked up.
Quick Questions:
Breakfast this morning? Huevos Rancheros Last album you bought? The new Jet album Worst job? Hired to loop a voice (fired) Favorite recent movie? “The Departed” Book you wish you had written? “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins Your weakness? Wine Favorite sports team? Detroit Tigers Something you can’t wait to do? My next movie Last vacation? South of France Super power? Invisibility Favorite wine? A really good rhone Favorite charity? Meals on Wheels Age of first kiss? 15 Who would you be for 24 hours? Marcello Mastroianni